


Gift Exchange

by shieldivarius



Series: Femslash Yuletide 2014 [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, Femslash Yuletide, Prompt: Gift Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 07:12:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5366063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shieldivarius/pseuds/shieldivarius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha has little luck finding a gift for Melinda's mom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gift Exchange

**Author's Note:**

> All of the Melinda/Natasha stories in this year's Femslash Yuletide are in the same universe and chronological unless stated otherwise!

"This was from your mother?" Natasha asked. She was sitting on the couch, the day after the dinner she'd skipped, twisting the box back and forth in her hands. Mom had wanted Melinda to wait until Christmas morning to open the gift, but that had seemed silly with them together, so she'd just unwrapped it right there.

A scarf. Mom had got her a big long scarf. One that Melinda had kind of shrugged at, but that Natasha already seemed to be coveting.

It _was_ warm. Plush, comfortable and thick, crocheted in a loop. It was just a scarf though, and Melinda was still a little miffed that Natasha hadn't wanted anything to do with the dinner with her mom. She nudged the edge of the box downward until Nat looked up, meeting her eyes.

She tilted her head a little to the side in query, and Melinda sighed. 

"I wanted you to be there," she said.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "No, you didn't. You just think you did. I would've been in the way."

"I wanted to introduce you to my mom."

Nat's eyebrows climbed way, way up her forehead, her eyes widening with the motion in a way that so clearly shrieked  _'How could you want that?'_

"You're not the anathema you think you are."

Natasha gave a wry twist of her lips that said she disagreed. "I'll send your mom a gift, then." 

Melinda frowned at her. 

"I will," Nat paused. "Assuming she knows I exist. What with my failing to turn up last night." Implying that Melinda might be just as much a coward as she was for not wanting to be there. Nice try, Nat.

"She knows."

Natasha looked a little bit as though she'd eaten a lemon. It wasn't an attractive look—defeat never looked good on her. 

"Fine," she said.

 

Melinda suspected Nat was making good on her announcement that she'd make up for not being at the dinner by getting a gift, but she hadn't seen any evidence to prove it. Whatever Nat was up to, she was playing with her hand held close to her chest. No peeking.

She felt bad. That's what this was. Guilty that she hadn't been there when Melinda had wanted her to be. And that was just fine. A little, innocent personal relationship guilt would do Natasha well.

Herself, Melinda was just curious to see what Nat would end up getting. 

She fluffed the scarf around her neck, looking down at it and rolling her eyes at a long, bright red hair already caught in the fibres. She pulled it out and held it in front of her eyes for a minute before flicking it away. Coveting, indeed. Natasha might wear the scarf home one day if Melinda didn't watch her.

Maybe she could give Natasha the scarf for Christmas. Re-gifting wasn't terrible if the recipient had expressed interest in the object in question already, was it?

Better, she could ask her mom where she'd got it and get Natasha one. In dark green, instead of black. It would suit her colouring nicely.

Her phone rang, and Melinda glanced at the Caller ID before answering. "Hi."

_"Your mom doesn't need self-defence classes, I suppose."_

Melinda snorted. "Hardly. I haven't told her you want to get her something, you can still admit defeat." 

 _"I'm going to find something. It's going to be fantastic."_  

"I'm sure." 

An explosion sounded through the line. Sounding far away, Natasha shrieked, _“Get down. Stand back!”_ Melinda fumbled her grip on her phone. "Nat? Are you—“

 _"I'm fine. I'll call you later,"_   was the response. Peaceful, as if she'd been expecting the explosion. Unfazed, as though it hadn't happened at all. 

Natasha hung up. Melinda stared down at her phone with a frown, then flipped to her news app and tried to figure out what was going on.

 

"And we don't have a suspect?" 

Melinda studied the other faces in the room at the briefing, two hours after the minor confetti explosion that had ruined a bunch of fake gifts in the middle of a mall. The mall where Natasha had been shopping at the time, where she'd been less than ten feet away at the time of the bomb going off.

Natasha shook her head. "It has to be related to the rest."

"Advent Gang?" 

Hill snorted. "Is that what we're calling them?" she turned to Natasha. "You think you've been present twice now, not counting being sent after the rooftop jumper."

"You don't think it's a coincidence?" Natasha asked. "What, like some super villain is trying to get my attention to teach me the meaning of Christmas, or something?"

"Or something," Hill agreed. "Start brushing up on your Christmas spirit. Dismissed. I'll be in touch."

Natasha frowned as they left the briefing room together. Barton clapped her on the shoulder and whispered something Melinda couldn't hear, but that made Natasha swat at him. He danced out of the way and took off at a brisk clip down the hall.

"You don't actually think..." Natasha started, and then shook her head. "That would be ludicrous."

"It's a coincidence," Melinda assured her. Natasha still didn't look so sure, and no wonder. Crime was one thing. Crimes aimed at her but endangering civilians... Well. 

The Advent Gang was beyond mischief when bombs were going off in shopping malls. Way beyond mischief.

"So? Have you found anything for my mom yet?" Melinda asked, steering away from the subject.

Natasha gave her a mysterious smile. "Oh, you wait."

**Author's Note:**

> http://shieldivarius.tumblr.com


End file.
